


Sleeping

by ambersagen



Series: Stiles-Centric One Shots [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe: Still also werewolves, Bat!Stiles, Comfort No Hurt, Cuddling & Snuggling, Everyone has an animal form, Everyone has graduated high school, Everyone is Part of the Pack, Fluff, Good Alpha Derek Hale, Good Peter Hale, M/M, No underage, Non-Human Stiles Stilinski, Pack Bonding, Pack Feels, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Sort Of, Steter - Freeform, Stiles Stilinski Needs a Hug, Stiles Stilinski is Part of the Hale Pack, and he gets one, since animal shifts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 04:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18731482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambersagen/pseuds/ambersagen
Summary: Researchers “Translate” Bat Talk. Turns Out, They Argue—A Lot





	Sleeping

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I am super blocked on other fics. Sorry....  
> Inspired by this article:  
> https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-translate-bat-talk-and-they-argue-lot-180961564/#vYYPtJ0AvzV4BVr5.99

It was strange, Stiles thought, watching the Pack as they piled into the living room with various blankets and pillows, how something as simple as a bite could change something as profoundly personal as a Shift.

It was an average Friday night and the subjects of his introspection were all present at the newly refurbished Hale loft. It had been a quiet few months, a relief to most of the pack since they were all suffering from various adult responsibilities, from taking classes at the local college to holding down real jobs to building a better pack house in Derek’s case.

A few members of the pack were already shifted as they started their evening routine, building a massive sleeping space that they only indulged in when the whole pack was present. It was great fun and the werewolves were settling down with various degrees of success, Erica's tan fur a blur as she pounced on Isaac, the wolf girl wrestling him for possession of a heavy comforter.

Stiles remembered her Shift from before the bite, a lovely sparrow that she hadn't changed into in public for years. Everyone knew it was because her parents were terrified she would have a seizure mid flight and fall to her death, but at least that meant it wasn't unusual that she never shifted anymore. Becoming a werewolf was much harder on the boys, who now had to avoid shifting in public so people wouldn't notice that their Shifts were now all wolves (even though Scott's Shift looked more like a big husky than a real wolf and Boyd's could be mistaken for a bear at a distance, which wasn't helpful since his original shift had been an otter).

Still, other than Scott's occasional complaint about the change most of the Pack didn't seem to miss their old Shifts. Stiles couldn't understand it. His own shift wasn't anything to write home about, but he couldn’t imagine ever being something different. He wasn't a massive Bengal tiger or a cobra or anything cool. The only thing interesting about his Shift was that it was rare. He had never met another bat, of any breed, which was unusual as Shift species that preferred the company of packs, heards, flocks, and so on tended to only manifest when those needs could be met. There were many fascinating theories on how much nurture affected nature in the case of Shifts but it was clear that the people around you could influence the kind of animal you would eventually manifest as, to an extent. But Stiles had manifested alone, no other bats in town to form a colony with, not even any close friends or relatives with Shifts that could fly. His father was a tabby and his mother had been a siamese. Both fairly average Shifts with little in the way of anything remarkable in their family history beyond a great great aunt who had been a beluga if the stories were to be believed.

The fact stood that Shifts ran in groups and Stiles didn’t fit in at all until recent supernatural shenanigans made his situation seem much less weird. If there wasn't the issue of the change in their Shift forms it wouldn't be unusual for a group of kids to all manifest as wolves and no one would have looked at their ragtag group twice. It did tend to be a sign hunters searched for however, even if the only way to be sure was to trigger the half animal, half human shift that only werewolves were capable of.  

So even with the weirdness of half his friends changing Shifts there was no denying that Stiles was thrilled to finally be part of a pack. Which he was, part of the pack that is. Yep. A little on the edge of it for sure, after all, wolves were territorial and it wasn't like he could cuddle up as a bat and get his snuggle on when everyone was so much larger and toothy-er than him. It was fine. He could get his pack cuddle on in human form, on the edge of the pile where he was less likely to get snarled at or munched. They didn't mean anything by it. They were all so new at being wolves and when they really got into it were just a bunch of puppies really, just not small-animal friendly puppies, unfortunately.

“Guys, come on,” he whined as he tried to wiggle further onto the pile of bedding only to get rolled almost off the edge again by some furry leg or human shoulder wiggling back at his movements. “I’m going to freeze and-or bruise my ass over here! Stop being such bed hogs!”

“Oww, watch the elbows Stilinski!” Isaac grumbled as Stiles attempted to climb over him to reach a more central location in the pile.

“I’ll bruise both your asses if you mess up my hair with all your flailing,” Lydia threatened from her very unfair and perfect spot near the center of the pile.

Stiles pouted, pulling at the closest blanket as he tried to squeeze in. “Seriously, I’m freezing. We should invest in some heavy rugs because I think the concrete is sucking all the heat from the room.”

“Stop whining Stiles, and keep your hands away from me. If you tickle me I’m kicking you in the balls,” Erica sniped, pulling the blanket up to cover them both but accidentally knocking Stiles on the forehead when it jerked free with more force than expected.

He yelped, falling back and almost smacking his head on the ground, which would have resulted in blood being spilled for sure if Peter hadn’t swooped out of nowhere to save him, a firm hand cupping the back of his head as the other arm caught him about the shoulders.

“Fuck,” Stiles gasped in what he hoped communicated his appreciation for the save. Peter just rolled his eyes, pushing the boy back onto the bed pile as he sat himself on the edge with a sigh.

“I should be getting paid if I have to babysit you puppies,” the man said, settling back with annoyance. He didn't bother to grab a blanket or pillow, always poised and content as long as he had full view of everyone in the room.

Stiles had noticed that while he watched the pack as a whole with an air of disdain he seemed to always have a careful eye on the squishy pack human, ready to enact a quick save when werewolf rambunctiousness got out of hand.

Peter had been watching him a lot lately. In fact, Peter had not only taken up Stiles Watching but also Stiles Stalking and Stiles Talking. The wolf seemed to be everywhere he went lately and it was starting to be pretty suspicious. There was no way a grown man needed to go to Starbucks that often (Stiles had an excuse, he was taking full credits while fighting supernatural baddies day and night so he needed his espressos ok?). It was really starting to bother him just how much it _didn’t_ bother him to turn and find Peter at his elbow with a comment on a book he was about to buy, or wake up from a nap at the library to the wolf taping him with a to go box and a meaningful look toward the exit. He would like to claim that he knew when Peter was lurking around due to his superior bat senses being triggered by the presence of a predator, but he was starting to realize it was more of the comfortable ‘safe and surrounded by his colony’ kind of feeling. It wasn’t the tingle of danger, Peter was giving his Shift a serious case of the warm fuzzies.

“You wouldn’t have to babysit if these babies would let me get a darn blanket for once,” Stiles said, tugging petulantly at the still trapped bedding.

“Stiles, if you don’t stop squirming and shut up I will make you sleep in the guest room, I swear to god,” Derek growled at the boy, who twitched nervously, head tilting and moving as if doing so could replicate his ears in bat shift and give him that full picture of everything that was happening around him because Grumpy Alpha Voice always set him on edge. It couldn't, he just ended up looking kind of manic.

Peter rolled his eyes, but it was with fondness. “Clearly you’ve never tried to cuddle with a bat Shifter before,” he said condescendingly. Derek growled again but Peter waved him off with a sniff. “I’m not blaming you, bats are a rare breed and very particular about things, but trust me, he is perfectly capable of settling down.”

"Dude I think it’s more the ADHD that's to blame than my being a bat, although it's kind of flattering in a disturbing way that you think you know so much about my particular needs-" Stiles paused, gulping at the predatory look on Peter's face as the man stood, casually pushing Scott off the edge of the pile to free a large, blue duvet and earning a surprised yelp from the younger werewolf.

"Uhh, whatcha doing with that?" Stiles asked, scooting backwards on his butt as Peter stalked forward with the blanket held out, images of spider webs and fishing nets and gruesome deaths flashing rapidly through his mind.

"Peter," Derek growled warningly, but made no effort to get up from where he was spread out on the bedding.

"Wait, I can be quiet! Like a mouse, I swear! You won't even know I'm here I'll be so quiet and still-"

The man pounced, and Stiles barely had time to squeak in fear and ‘oh shit this is it he’s gonna eat me’ before he was caught. In one smooth move Peter dropped the blanket over Stiles, using his weight and the boy’s own flailing attempts at escape to roll him over and over until he was trapped.

“There, that ought to do the trick,” Peter said, depositing the blanket burrito that was Stiles down near the middle of the group, who had made room if only to avoid the flailing that was his capture.

Stiles wiggled, trying to free himself from the blanket prison and escape the wolf pile. Nothing happened. He wiggled more, but his arms were pinned and he was pressed down into the mattress on all sides by warm, breathing bodies as everyone settled back down, too used to weird fights and pack nonsense to let it disrupt their sleep. He was completely and utterly trapped. A total blanket burrito.

He was in heaven.

With a happy sigh of utter bliss Stiles went boneless, the cocoon of pack and the blanket hugging him on all sides like an anchor, securing his constant need for stimulation. Peter gracefully folded down beside him on the bed. Within moments Peter was comfortably situated with pressed his nose into the dip of Stiles’ collarbone, a rumble signaling his approval of Stiles’ content scent.

“Go to sleep darling. We’re all here to stay. We have you now, you can relax.”

“You ok Stiles?” Derek asked, voice low and soothing to Stiles’ tired ears. He hadn’t realized how much he had been straining to hear until the anxiety that always seemed to float around him disappeared under the warm pressure of Peter’s cuddles.  “Can you breathe alright?”

“F’els gud” Stiles murmured from inside his wrappings. Such a good Alpha, he thought fuzzily. Always making sure his pack feels safe. “Th’nks Der, You’re a goo’alpha,”

Peter snorted, nipping lightly at the boy’s neck. “And what about me? Where’s my thanks?”

“Tha’n Pete. Good wolfy,” Stiles said, rubbing his cheek against Peter’s, and with that he drifted, floating in a soft cloud of contentment for the first time in years.

**Author's Note:**

> Up next in Bat!Stiles: Newborn
> 
> Please be kind, comments feed my writing.
> 
>  
> 
> Come say hello. I am a lonely person.  
> ambersagen.tumblr.com


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